Special thanks to The Dark Tower Forums. Some of the ideas in my theory about the ending come from there. Although the ideas were on the tip of my tongue, I couldn’t actually put them into words until I read them on those forums. But what Roland finds at the top of the dark tower comes directly from me.

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!!!!!!!!!SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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How many times I cried

When Pere died.

When Jake called Roland “Father”, and Roland open his arms to Jake.

Eddie’s last words before dying.

The entire chapter “In the Haze of Green and Gold” specifically,

Jake telling Mrs. T., “tell my father I love him” before dying

Roland’s funeral speech and Oy’s “I Ake!”

Oy deciding not to die alongside Jake’s grave

Oy’s death

When Roland reached the tower and called out the names of all those who died during his quest. That was the greatest moment in all of The Dark Tower series.

Susannah in New York – I cried knowing that Eddie and Jake were okay and together, although I didn’t care anything about Susannah’s happiness.

When Roland begged for mercy and pity from the Tower and Gan.

My Favorite Parts

The man in black / Walter’s death. Having loved The Stand, I was absolutely shocked by his death and totally freaked out by the way he died.

The ka-tet’s reunion in Experimental Station 16

The 3 SKs at the Red King’s Castle palaver

Roland’s speech upon reaching the dark tower

My Thoughts on the Dark Tower and the Ending

The Dark Tower epic is about Roland’s most important loop in the Tower – his second to last. Roland actually made it to the tower in his first trip – he’s just been stuck in it ever since. The Tower is allowing him to redeem himself and make up for all those he has sacrificed in his journey to the Tower. We can only imagine what Roland did and how many people died to reach the Tower the first time. Through repetition, the Tower teaches Roland that there are more important things in this world than just reaching the Tower.

On this second to last trip, we hear Roland’s thoughts when he is reunited with Jake in The Drawing of the Three, “No Jake, I’ll never let you drop again. But then again Roland wonders if that is true.” In Book VII, Roland decides in the truck on the way to save SK that he will die in Jake’s place. However, Ka intervenes, Roland’s leg gives out, and Jake jumps in front of the runaway truck. His willingness to die to keep Jake safe is his saving grace and breaks the loop once and for all.

This time in the loop it will be different and it will be his last trip to the Tower. We know this because of how SK chose to put the poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” at the end of the book right after the coda. According to the poem, Roland blows his horn at the base of the dark tower.

Roland has been drawing the same Jake, Susannah, and Eddie on each loop. How else could they have these skills? Also, the first time they were on horseback, Eddie thought he had done all of this before. There are probably many other hints throughout the books, but I don’t have the time to reread them all.

And lastly, what is at the top of The Dark Tower?

After Roland calls the names of all he’s lost, he blows his horn at the base of the Dark Tower. The doors open for him for the final time. He walks into the Tower and sees the symbols from all the critical moments on his life and throughout every trip to The Dark Tower. Slowly he starts to realize just how old he really is and just how many times he’s been to the dark tower as he examines every room. When he reaches the top, the door, instead of saying Roland, it says, “Redemption”. As he opens the door, he hears the sound of his horn reverberate throughout the Tower, possibly blown by Gan himself. He sees every name he called at the base of the tower smiling at him, including his father, his mother, Cort, Vannay, Curberth, Alan, Susan, and his ka-tet, even the one with the gold-rimmed eyes.

Roland runs towards their outstretched hands as they stand in the clearing at the end of the path.

A top ending… initially when I realised he would be sent back in an eternal loop I thought it was going to be a terrible ending with no way out of the loop. That would have been almost as bad as "and he woke up and it was all a dream!". However the fact that Roland must go through all of this again but with the promise that this time it will be different leaves us to imagine his ultimate redemtion.Maybe after freeing the breakers Roland decides he cant be bothered any more and goes back to the Calla with the Pere, his intact Ka-tet and maybe even Mordred to farm sheep, or whether he wakes in the clearing at the end of the path in the arms of Susan Delgado. The ending is up to you and King knows leaving this part up to you is better and more satisfying than he could ever cook up.

I think that upon his next–and most likely final–trip to the top of the Tower, Roland will find it empty. He then will be able to rule all the worlds from the top of the Tower, preserving the power of the White for eternity. As he said, there will be no clearing for him.

"When he reaches the top, the door, instead of saying Roland, it says, “Redemption”. As he opens the door, he hears the sound of his horn reverberate throughout the Tower, possibly blown by Gan himself. He sees every name he called at the base of the tower smiling at him, including his father, his mother, Cort, Vannay, Curberth, Alan, Susan, and his ka-tet, even the one with the gold-rimmed eyes.

Roland runs towards their outstretched hands as they stand in the clearing at the end of the path."

How exactly do you know all this? It wasn’t at the end of the book…did you make it up? Is it an assumption? I’m going crazy! This ending would have at least been better than what we got. To have read thousands of pages only to be brought back to the beginning is a horrible thing to do to us "constant readers." To say, "but this time it will be different" is a cheap way out. it implies there is still another story to tell, but one which will be almost identical to what we have already read. All that matters, both to Roland and to King’s readers, is what lies waiting in the room at the top of the tower. And now we’ll NEVER know. Crap. Pure and utter crap. The DT series has been the most prolific set of fiction I have ever read; the ending carried so much weight upon its shoulders, and to have it mean nothing more than a never-ending loop is low.

Plus, I thought it was only because of Roland’s relentlessness and unfaltering desire to reach the Tower that he ever reached it in the first place. He was obviously well aware of the sacrifices he made, and was ready to die more than once by the time he reached the Tower. Isn’t that enough salvation to "break the loop?"

Yeah, that’s my favorite theory now, because just imagine if Roland hadn’t let Jake die. A lot of things were set into motion because of Jake’s initial death. He won’t let him die this trip and his entire ka-tet will reach the tower.

I did sleep well the nioght that I finished the book (as I’m sure many of you did). The one line that really, truly bothered me was from pg 827: "Oh, no!" he screamed. "please, not again! have Pity! Have mercy!"

It seemed to make this strong character faulter at the end. Instead, I wish it would have been like: "Yes! I see it now!" he screamed. "Ka is a wheel! Eternally I shall save the Dark Tower and with it ALL WORLDS!"

or something like that. I guess I just hate the idea of Roland being tortured so. I guess Mr. King is a horror novelist so there is no reason for a happy ending. But for Gan’s sake he saved this world and every other world! Doesn’t the poor guy deserve a break for once.

Or is it a metaphor that goes back to the "writer". Like everytime someone else starts reading the series, Roland must start his quest anew? In a way that makes more sense than anything else.

I think that the weight of coming to terms with what is at the top of the tower did King in. All of the books leading up to that one moment…and poof. Nothing. Worse than nothing. If Ka is wheel, it’ gone flat. I could have even lived with King not completing the series, but not that ending. He kept reminding us that his stories come from the gut and not the head…perhaps he had gas. Big Big.

If you made that up, I think you can give Sai SK a run for his money in the writer’s market. That’s a very good thought to help me grabble with the end of this series that I started reading 13 years ago.

Thank you, Sara, for your thoughts on the ending. When I got to the end, my first reaction was "crap… he went through all this, lost all those he loved…. and must go through it again?!" The more I thought about the ending, the more I thought about what I would have wanted to happen, but a happy-sappy ending would have been cheesy after the rich depth of the story. I truly loved the epic and also cried when Jake, Eddie, and Oy passed into the clearing. I like believing that this time in the eternal loop, Roland will break the cycle, find redemption, and keep the ka-tet intact. After all, what is more important than those we love.

The Talisman / Black House series is excellent, and ties in really nicely with the DT series, particularly Black House. I’ll assume you’ve all read Insomnia, ‘Salem’s Lot, The Stand, Hearts In Atlantis, and The Eyes Of The Dragon as well…!

Just finished DT7. I couldn’t put it down, but I was a bit disappointed… Specifically it seems both Walter and Mordred were built up all this time (Walter especially) to be "swept under the rug" at the end, and Eddie dying the way he did??- 4 gunslingers caught unaware that way?

Danville’s power really opened too many doors at the end.

Why didn’t Danville draw Susannah some legs? Why didn’t he draw Roland’s hand whole again? I would have loved to have seen Roland go up against the Crimson King restored to his former abilities, both hands moving as blurs, firing & reloading as he takes out wave after wave of the kings henchmen, shooting their own bullets out of the air, to finally bring out some ancient bullets from the armory of Gilead, especially designed for taking out the Crimson King, bullets made from the same shards of Excalibur that Arthur Eld’s pistols were forged from, left to Roland by Cort himself. Then he could lay BOTH of his fathers still-smoking guns at a place of honor at the base of the tower and climb the steps to his redemption.

Instead we get one of Arthur Eld’s guns in a trashcan in some alternate central park, and one whose last act was to shoot a bunch of "sneetches" ouf of the air while cowering behind a rock. Sigh… not bad, but I’m still feeling a little "empty".

As an english Major, I took the liberty to correct and re-type this wonderful ending by Sara Ford…

Understanding the Ending

The Dark Tower epic is about Roland’s most important loop in the Tower – his second to last. Roland actually made it to the tower in his first trip – he’s just been stuck in a cycle ever since. The Tower is allowing him to redeem himself and make up for everyone he has sacrificed in his journey to the Tower. We can only imagine what Roland did and how many people died to reach the Tower the first time. Through repetition, the Tower teaches Roland that there are more important things in this world than just reaching the Tower.

On this second to last trip, we hear Roland’s thoughts when he is reunited with Jake in The Wastelands, “No Jake, I’ll never let you drop again.” But Roland wonders if that is the truth. In Book VII, Roland decides in the truck on the way to save Stephen King that he will die in Jake’s place. However, Ka intervenes, Roland’s leg gives out, and Jake jumps in front of the runaway truck. His willingness to die to keep Jake safe is his saving grace and breaks the loop once and for all. Ka gives him credit for the progress he has made, and Eld’s horn will be his reward. If he can hold on to it through another cycle, everything will be different and he will learn what the top of the tower really holds for him. After being transported back into the desert, Roland is promised by the voice of Gan that if he stands true, it will be different this time.

This time the loop will be different and it will be his last trip to the Tower. We know this because of how Stephen King chose to put the poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” at the end of the book right after the coda. According to the poem, Roland blows his horn at the base of the dark tower.

Roland has been drawing the same Jake, Susannah, and Eddie on each loop. How else could they have such skills? Also, the first time they were on horseback, Eddie thought he had done all of this before. There are many other hints throughout the books, but this page is not big enough to list and explain them all.

And lastly, what is at the top of The Dark Tower?

After Roland calls the names of all he’s lost, he blows his horn at the base of the Dark Tower. The door opens for him for the final time. He walks into the Tower and sees the symbols from all the critical moments in his life and throughout every trip to The Dark Tower. Slowly he starts to realize how old he really is and how many times he’s been to the Dark Tower as he examines every room. When he reaches the top, the door, instead of saying Roland, says “Redemption”. As he opens the door, he hears the sound of his horn reverberate throughout the Tower, possibly blown by Gan himself. He sees everyone Whose name he called at the base of the tower smiling at him through the opened door, he sees his Father, his Mother, Cort, Vannay, Cuthbert, Alain, his ka-tet of new and old, Susan, yes Susan, his lifelong Love always remembered waving from the window, even his little friend with the gold-rimmed eyes.

Overwhelmed with emotion, Roland runs through the last and final door towards their outstretched hands and into their arms as they stand waiting for him in the clearing, where they have waited for him so long.

i have been overwhelmed since finishing the series two days ago. first, dissapointed: not because of the ending (it was fitting, there couldn’t have been another way for it to end), but because i came to know these characters intimately, and i don’t want to say good-bye. especially jake and oy. second: very sad, ’cause i’ve had to say good-bye. i know i sound like an anti-social freak. i’m a freak, that’s for sure, but, i’m moderately well-adujusted. it’s just that…i don’t know, of course i would like to know more. like, how many times HAS roland gone on this journey? and what is the ending of his next journey like? does he find redemption on the door (great theory, sara) or does his journey continue yet again? yes, letting jake fall the first (was that indeed his first journey to the tower???) time around was bad "ka" but, what about letting susan burn? wasn’t that bad "ka", too? see, too many questions still. i have a feeling, though. i believe that stephen king isn’t done. mayhap tis my own intuition or wishful thinking. but ka is a wheel, is it not? there’s more to be written, still. roland might find his way to the clearing.

Many,MANY gripes here but my main one is this…WALTER WASN’T KILLED BY THOMAS. Which is what was "promised" in "Eyes of the Dragon". Storyline has been sorely lacking since book 4 (Which was still fairly short in the "originality" area.But King usually is,even his physical "dualism" i.e. Twinners,would have been really creative if practically the same concept wasn’t put forth in Piers Anthony’s "Apprentice Adept" series.But I guess all "authors" can’t be imaginative,some are just bottom-feeding commercialized plagurists with smaller vocabularies.

I have grown to accept the ending, even if Sai King has not. He alludes to not being completely satisfied with the ending, but that’s no excuse for not fleshing it out. For me, it would be complete with the addition of one detail:

How can you not care about Susannah’s happiness? Sure, she was a bitch, but who wouldn’t be if you had bricks dropped on your head and your legs sliced off by a subway train, all thanks to one man? (Jack Mort for those who need a memory jog) With the love of Eddie and an integral role in such a quest, she was finally able to break free (not quite) of Detta Walker. She helped Roland achieve his quest and save existence. I’m very happy she was reunited with Eddie and Jake at the end, and I hope they live on together, "happily ever after," and no matter what SK says… THEY CAN, for there will be water if God wills it, say thankya.

I always kind of saw it as being maybe a second to last trip through too. If you look back through the story, he talks about losing Cuthbert’s horn at Jericho Hill, I think it was. But at the end of the seventh book, he’s back right where the first book started, except that somehow he has the horn again. I think someone else commented on how "if he could keep it through the cycle" or something like that. But he lost it before the cycle, not during. So it would seem an outside change in the cycle. Something guiding him on a different path, or at least a change that would give him a chance to do things differently.

I feel that this is a good solid theory. The whole second-to-last-trip makes a lot of sense. I finished the book about 1 week after it came out and I think I was depressed for a week after. But then I realized that, not only is this part of Ka, but we are lucky to just have been let in on SKs epic story. I, too, was slightly disappointed that Dennis and Thomas didn’t catch up with Flagg, BUT was satisfied with how he was killed…an ass should die an ass’ death, plain and simple. Being eaten alive (and being forced to serve yourself to you killer) is by far a much more horrible death than anything Dennis and Thomas could have dished out (and he was so close to escaping…ha!). He was arrogant, and thought he could outsmart the son of the Crimson King. Also, for all you junkies, King is writting a new comic book serries (of which he will have full creative control, that gods) describing the life of a young Roland. Hopefully this will shed some light on the fall of Gilead and the Battle of Jericho Hill.

Have just finished the 7th book (last 300 pages in 4 hours starting at 2am!). It’s a great read, and after having first picked up the DT series in 1999 I had to see how it ended for Roland!! When Sai SK put in that the door to the Tower closed behind Roland and then moved onto Susannah in NYC, I was damn near jumping out of the building thinking that we were being short changed!! At least the Coda put it right! My initial thoughts on the real ending were pretty similar to other peoples – pretty weak. But then upon thinking about it more, how else could it have really ended? It would have been a lot worse if they had all made it and lived happily ever after because that isn’t the style of the books. The ending I think is a perfect fit because after all it has been said a number of times that ka is a wheel, and how much more symmetrical can you get with the 1st line of the 1st book, and the last line of the last book being the same?? Hopefully Roland get’s to break the curse on his next trip…long days pleasant nights

Have just finished the 7th book (last 300 pages in 4 hours starting at 2am!). It’s a great read, and after having first picked up the DT series in 1999 I had to see how it ended for Roland!! When Sai SK put in that the door to the Tower closed behind Roland and then moved onto Susannah in NYC, I was damn near jumping out of the building thinking that we were being short changed!! At least the Coda put it right! My initial thoughts on the real ending were pretty similar to other peoples – pretty weak. But then upon thinking about it more, how else could it have really ended? It would have been a lot worse if they had all made it and lived happily ever after because that isn’t the style of the books. The ending I think is a perfect fit because after all it has been said a number of times that ka is a wheel, and how much more symmetrical can you get with the 1st line of the 1st book, and the last line of the last book being the same?? Hopefully Roland get’s to break the curse on his next trip…long days pleasant nights

Kudos!! I never thought of it that way, about it being Rolands 2nd to last trip, but now that I’ve read it, it brings a smile to my face. And I think it is right that he begs Gan for mercy and pity, to not have to go all through it again, realizing that he does have to do it again, after all he’s been through and all the sacrifices, it just shows his human side once and for all. Again, ty for opening my eyes to an alternate ending.

Kudos!! I never thought of it that way, about it being Rolands 2nd to last trip, but now that I’ve read it, it brings a smile to my face. And I think it is right that he begs Gan for mercy and pity, to not have to go all through it again, realizing that he does have to do it again, after all he’s been through and all the sacrifices, it just shows his human side once and for all. Again, ty for opening my eyes to an alternate ending.

Kudos!! I never thought of it that way, about it being Rolands 2nd to last trip, but now that I’ve read it, it brings a smile to my face. And I think it is right that he begs Gan for mercy and pity, to not have to go all through it again, realizing that he does have to do it again, after all he’s been through and all the sacrifices, it just shows his human side once and for all. Again, ty for opening my eyes to an alternate ending.

Kudos!! I never thought of it that way, about it being Rolands 2nd to last trip, but now that I’ve read it, it brings a smile to my face. And I think it is right that he begs Gan for mercy and pity, to not have to go all through it again, realizing that he does have to do it again, after all he’s been through and all the sacrifices, it just shows his human side once and for all. Again, ty for opening my eyes to an alternate ending.

Why does Roland’s cycle not start from the begining (at least from after his challenge with Cort) starting from the does not make sense with what previous posters have said about the hor being lost on Jerhico Hill. I too was angered by the ending at first, and then realised the challenge that SK faced, he would never please everybody with what he wrote and a happy ending would give the story (the journey) no justice at all. I would have rathered Roland sacrificing himself(in an epic battle) to take out the Crimson King to save the Tower myself.

Cbardis: Roland’s cycle starts in the desert because that was the first time he thought he could actually reach The Dark Tower. Up until that point, he was all about saving it. As he got closer and caught the beam after Tull (if you read the first version of The Gunslinger, he’s travelling SE, but in the second version, he’s travelling due East), he thought he could actually reach it and climb to the top. I believe "Little Sisters" (in Everything’s Eventual) doesn’t describe Roland as reaching the tower, but more along the lines of saving it, since "Littel Sisters" happens before Tull.

I got this theory from "The Road to the Dark Tower", i think (it’s been a while).

Also, i read somewhere, probably in "The Road to the Dark Tower", where SK said that from day one Roland’s story was going to end in a loop. Hence, why there was so much "Ka is a wheel" stuff going on. Of course, you would have to look for these sort of comments and hits from Books 1-4; otherwise, it doesn’t count.

My theory is that King is repeating the theme of the characters being aware of themselves as characters in books, written by an author. Just as the ka-tet are aware that time is different, "slower", between the books (see the beginning of the Wolves of Calla), Roland does what every character does at the end of his book. He goes back to the beginning, for the next reader. And the beginning is his first steps in the desert.

I like that Stephen King wrote in that there is hope for it not to go on and on and on, but the fact is, I think it will. Just because Gan says it "may" be different this time doesn’t mean it will be. Roland is a character in a book, and at the end of each reading, he goes back to the beginning for the next reader.

I know it’s a bleak theory, I like your theory better because it allows for an actual ending. But I think Roland will go on and on, so long as he has readers.

It’s Buddhism. Roland will repeat his life three times, the third time he will get it right. Acquire all the necessary knowledge. Become enlightened. He will become Buddha. Who knows what you’d call it in Mid-World. He will rule all worlds from the top of the Tower. Three is an important number. Just as important as 19.

I just had a thought reading these comments….basically time flows differently at different points becuase different readers read at differeing speeds…does that make sense….and time slows nearer the tower becauase as Roland and Ka Tet grow closer the time betweeen the books grows….I have to admit that i loved the official ending….all that about the wheel turning and the world moving on and stuff……I have only one comment to add…..how about Mordred being "IT" any suggestions?

I loved the trip, the characters and the all the twists and turns. I looked forward to each new edition and am sad that there are no more to look forward to. Stephen King’s ability to make the reader accept the surreal worlds and situations in stride (a train with an evil brain, an agenda and a penchant for riddles), is a talent like none others. At first, I thought the introduction of the savant who literally erases the Crimson King, the demon of 10,000 pages on page 9,999, was well, a little tough to take, yet I hung on every word as usual. In retrospect, I realize that I’m critiquing a story of time travel, multiple worlds accessible through hovering doors, a giant robotic bear, and an under world of half human, half animal vampires. Bravo Mr. King, I’d hear it again if you’d tell it.

I believe that at the top of the Tower lives the TRUE Crimson King, a once great spider-god (perhaps pennywise?) now gone to ruin. I believe that when Roland reaches the tower with the Horn, the final door will open for him, and he will find the crippled deity within–and kill it.

I’ve struggled with the ending for going on a long while now, hoping that my bitter disappointment would morph into some clear, resolute epiphany that it was indeed all I had hoped and the digestion process of my mind simply had too much on its plate to provide the satisfaction of completing the journey. The disappointment has lingered and as much as I hate to admit it to myself, let alone on a public forum, I think the series was a failure. For me, the story seemed to have lost its way right and/or crumbled under its own weight. I don’t think Stephen King is being completely honest in the telling of the last two books – I think he handed over the reigns to someone else to complete it. Perhaps that is the brilliance of it all and I’m just too blind to see it – at least that’s what I hope I can convince myself of anyway.

Just finished DT7, just got done with a 5 hour marathon reading session. I liked Sara’s ending, but there are many other open possibilities, and I think King meant to leave the ending open to interpretation for the reader. Basically, like many of you have said, if he made a concrete ending there would be people who disagreed with it…this way, you can decide whatever ending makes you happy =)

I just finished this beast, and I have to tell you: that was a terrible ending. Steve, we deserved better — and you didn’t deliver. Sure, I loved the journey. But there has to be a payoff for the main character. I spent years following this yarn, for nothing. Nothing is in the Dark Tower. I usually re-read these Tower yarns via books on tape, but I’m not sure I’m going to bother. I think it’s time to turn my attention to George R.R. Martin’s "A Song Of Fire And Ice." And again, Steve, that ending was a ground ball through Bill Buckner’s legs. Total choke job.

i totally agree with yer analysis of DT7’s ending; there was no better fitting conclusion, though I did have some minor gripes with the story: 1. I think that Dennis and Thomas should have had a part to play regarding Walter O’Dim, although his gruesome death was perfect. 2. If the type one Vampires serve the Crimson King, and Pere Callahan only killed one, why didn’t they reappear to attack the gunslingers later? I was expecting an ambush by them at the deserted castle of the Crimson King(Vampires and creepy castles,kinda stereotypical isn’t it?) or their absence could have been explained more conclusively; like if Jake had set a fire to kill them after escaping them or if the blood of sacrifice(Callahan’s) had poisoned them. 3. If the Tower is represented by different things in different worlds and all worlds are weakening, why did only the rose in the vacant lot need to be protected? What about the Tower’s representatives in other worlds? 4. Why did it seem that much of what Walter did was helpful to the gunslinger? Like drawing Jake and Callahan from death, providing him with the doors into Eddie and Odetta’s world and black thirteen, even giving advice and food to the ka-tet. As Flagg in The Eyes of the Dragon, it was told that he followed an instinct for mischief. Perhaps an agent of the White was subtley guiding him much as he governed Jack Mort’s instincts in killing Jake. Hhmm dunno 5. This is just thinking out loud; Callahan was a teleporter right? Like Jack Sawyer. I doubt he knew it though, or he would have ported out of the Dixie Pig, but I can always hope he’ll turn up again sometime. I’d like to see the matter of the surviving vampires concluded. Maybe in T3! Can you see Jack and Parkus as vampire slayers? I can. Anyway, Good Luck Next Time Roland!

1) I had been warned not to read "Coda"… but did so anyway, and actually liked it. I think that the "multiple trips" idea is fitting, as long as Roland is able to improve his trip each time and make it closer to an ultimate (and hopefully happy) resolution.

2) The reason I liked the ending, especially how he awoke with the horn, was that I think that the central theme of the story was truly the idea of "redemption." If you examine the main characters, and most of the important minor ones as well, they were each struggling to do something positive that would make up for their prior faults. Roland – all the deaths. Eddie – a life wasted with heroin. Pere Callahan – his loss of faith in Salem’s Lot. Susannah – all the wrong she did as Detta. Oy – his shame from being kicked out by his former billybumbler ka-tet. Sheemy – his wrongly placed, but very real sense of guilt from letting Susan burn. Ted B and Dinky – their work as breakers and the pleasure they took in it. If it’s all about redemption… then it’s actually comforting to know that the dark tower and ka give them (and hopefully us) some chance to get it right.

3) Even though I hated seeing Eddie, Jake and Oy die, I thought it was fitting that Roland was left alone to reach the tower. Susannah’s leaving didn’t give her many fan-points in my head, but I’m still happy that the three get to live happily in Takuro Spirit land.

4) Finally…. OY IS THE MAN. (note: by "man" i mean "billy-bumbler") I wish i had a billy-bumbler now… 🙂